Toby Keith Elected Into Country Music Hall of Fame, in Voting That Wrapped Up Days Before His Death
variety.comChris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Toby Keith, who died Feb. 5, is one of three inductees named Monday as the newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, along with fellow country star John Anderson and legendary country-rock guitarist James Burton.
Keith will be inducted posthumously, of course, but he was not elected posthumously. Country Music Association CEO Sarah Trahern noted that there is actually a rule against voting in anyone in the year after their death.
But that doesn’t apply in this instance, since voting wrapped up Feb. 2. On Feb. 6, Trahern noted, fans and friends woke up to the news that Keith had died from stomach cancer. “It was bitterrsweet that our team received word from Deloitte just a few hours later that he had been elected” into the hall, she said. “My heart sank that Tuesday afternoon that we had missed a chance to inform Toby while he was still with us.” But, she said, she felt confident that he was looking down from above and finding out that he was “as good as he once was,” to borrow a lyrical phrase. “Many people tried to portray him as one-dimensional, and he wasn’t,” said Kix Brooks, who with his partner Ronnie Dunn hosted the announcements at the Hall of Fame Monday morning. “We know, we’ve been on the road with him. … Keith didn’t write about politics as much as much as he did about communities.” Brooks cited his 11 USO tours and 200 shows performed for members of the armed forces.
Keith’s previous honors include being named into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015, the all-genre Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2021 and being named as a BMI Icon at the PRO’s 2022 ceremony in Nashville.
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